


Twenty

by FelicityCleone



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Self-Indulgent, anime seat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 22:41:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29740980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FelicityCleone/pseuds/FelicityCleone
Summary: Nearly all shoujo mangas follow an unspoken rule: the ikemen always, always, always sits at the second-to-the-last seat near the window, and the lucky girl who gets to sit beside him always, always, always end up as his love interest.Kuroo has never once sat in a window seat, though the changes in this trimester’s seating plan has got him wanting not the anime seat, but the one beside it.
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei
Comments: 6
Kudos: 74





	Twenty

**Author's Note:**

> In this story Tsukki goes to Nekoma and is in the same year as Kuroo. All the other characters stay as they are in canon. Basically this is just me trying the anime seat concept for my favorite HQ ship, so I hope you’d enjoy this self-indulgent piece with me.

**Twenty**

“Kuroo-senpai.” Lev’s voice carried through the entire changing room, prompting the volleyball captain to stop midway from buttoning up his uniform. They had just finished their morning practice, a necessary evil recently added in their routine as preparation for the Inter-high preliminaries two months from now. “Why do the good-looking guys in the classroom always sit by the second-to-the-last seat near the window?”

“They do?” Kuroo could not hide the surprise from his tone. One, he has never really noticed if ikemen* really do get window seats and two, “What’s up with this random question, Haiba Lev?”

Lev shrugged. “I just came across a forum discussing the _anime seat_ in the shoujo genre and realized they were right. Most ikemen in anime and manga just happen to sit there, don’t they?”

“That’s just fictional.” Yaku piped up with a huff, stepping out of his volleyball shoes to his red-soled uwabaki*. “There is no such thing as _anime seat_ , not here in Nekoma anyway. And if by any chance an ikemen classmate of yours really does get that window seat, Lev, he won’t be able to hold on to it for long. We change seats at the start of every trimester.”

Lev’s eyes shone with unexplained excitement at their libero’s words. “Ah, today’s the start of the second trimester! I’m going to aim for the _anime seat_ so that I become the classroom ikemen!”

“I don’t think it works that way, Lev.” Kuroo interjected, exasperated sigh escaping his lips. This hardly deterred Lev from his grand scheme.

“And then all the girls would hope to get the set next to mine, because that’s the designated _heroine seat –_ you know how in anime, the person sitting next to the ikemen gets to date him—

Yaku rolled his eyes like he was so _done_ with the freshman, “Haiba Lev, you are an idiot.”

***

By the time Kuroo made it to homeroom, drawing lots for the new seating plan has already started, if the dwindling line outside the classroom was any indication. Fujinuma-sensei has always been punctual and undoubtedly started the activity the moment the first bell rang.

The girl in front was giggling with her friends, all of them hoping that they’d get seat number twenty.

_That’s oddly specific,_ Kuroo frowned. Wait, is that perhaps the anime seat?

“Homura.” He called out to the girl standing before him in line. “Do you have any idea what window seats are still available?”

Homura was _sparkling_ , if that was possible, positively glowing and not even trying to hide her giddiness and excitement when she turned to answer the bedhead. “Ah, most of them are taken except for number twenty-five, Kuroo.”

Kuroo nodded. “Okay, thanks.” He wonders if he gets to sit there and become the classroom ikeme— _ah, dammit, Lev!_

“Are you perhaps hoping to get a window seat?” Homura asked again, head titling to one side in mild curiosity.

“No, not really.” He isn’t qualified as classroom ikemen, anyway, so the last window seat would only be wasted on him. “I don’t really have a preference, just as long as I don’t get the ones at the very front. You?”

The girl grinned almost darkly, like she was on a very hard mission. “I’d love seat number twenty.”

“That’s very specific.” Kuroo hummed. “Why twenty?”

Homura pinked. “I love the view.”

The view? _What view?_

If the last window seat is number twenty-five and their seating chart comprises of six columns and five rows, then the seats with the good views would obviously be the ones near the window – 1, 7, 13, 19, 25.

Seat number twenty is only next to a window seat, how can that be a good view? Girls are weird.

What view can a middle seat possibly offer for it to be coveted so much?

The best seats are obviously the ones at the very back, and the ones at the front are the worst. Middle seats are so-so, but if he gets a hottie for a seatmate—

Then it clicked: the girls wanted seat number twenty for the _view._ What else could it be but an—

“Ikemen?” He asked, lightly teasing.

Homura grew even more pink but nodded nonetheless. “He’s a transferee. _Sendai,_ I think? Or was it more specific- _Miyagi,_ perhaps? They had to move here because his father got promoted and has to work in the main office of the company he’s working for here in Tokyo.”

Kuroo nodded, not really knowing what else to say after that. “Good luck on getting seat number twenty, then.”

“Thanks, Kuroo!”

***

The line continued to dwindle down but nobody has gotten number 20 so far, or else there would’ve been the half- startled, half-celebratory squeal of the lucky girl who managed to win the _heroine seat._ Homura was twisting the hem of her summer uniform so much that Kuroo rooted for her secretly – the poor girl obviously wanted nothing else.

Then it was almost his turn, the line now short enough that all of the remaining students who have yet to draw their seat numbers are already inside the classroom. Kuroo chanced a glance at the person occupying seat nineteen in sheer curiosity, wanting to see for himself if the new guy was worth all the hype.

Just like a scene in a shoujo manga, the boy near the window was _beautiful—_ shiny blonde hair that curled softly at the egdes framing a small, exquisite face. The black rimmed glasses did not even dull his beautiful features and instead gave him a cool, almost aloof aura around him. Long pale fingers cupped a pointed, proud chin. Judging by arm length alone and the way his legs crossed under his desk he was undoubtedly tall, perhaps even taller than Kuroo.

He was looking at the view outside the window in an almost carefree manner so characteristic of shoujo manga lead male characters, uninterested in everything until he meets the lucky girl destined to sit beside him in seat number twenty.

Said seat was still decidedly empty, but Kuroo could not find it in his heart to cheer for Homura anymore. He couldn’t really explain why, but he wanted the seat for himself. He wanted the view for himself.

And then it was Homura’s turn. Kuroo held his breath as he followed the girl’s slightly trembling hand go into the box and pull out a folded piece of paper.

_Please don’t let it be twenty._

Homura slowly unfolded one part of the paper to show the first digit of her new seat. It was a 2, and Kuroo could only clench his fist.

_Please don’t let it be twenty._

She unfolded the remaining part. It was a 1.

Twenty-one. Homura looked almost as if she was about to cry and walked over to her seat with her head hanging low. Kuroo almost felt sorry for her, but –

Seat number twenty is still empty!

“Kuroo-kun, your turn.” Fujinuma-sensei told him, raising the box at him amicably in obvious invitation. The bedhead looked at the boy in the window seat again, and this time, he was met with startling gold eyes.

He reached his hand in and pulled out a piece of paper, not once breaking eye contact with the beautiful boy with the beautiful eyes.

***

“So Lev,” Yaku’s grin was almost feral when they met again in the locker room for afternoon practice. “did you get the anime seat?”

The slump in the freshman’s shoulders was answer enough. “How about you, Yaku-senpai, Kuroo-senpai?”

Yaku merely _tsk_ ed, mumbling about how the concept of _anime seats_ were stupid. Kuroo put on his practice jersey before responding.

“All the window seats are taken, but I luckily got one with a good view.”

He laughed openly at Yaku and Lev’s confused looks before closing his locker. A small piece of paper with the number twenty fell on the floor.

“Okay, let’s start afternoon practice!”

FIN

**Author's Note:**

> *ikemen: good-looking, cool guy  
> *uwabaki: Japanese indoor shoes typically used in school and other establishments


End file.
